Three Generations: Present
by loozy
Summary: He is her crush, someone pretty to look at when compared to the other men who come into the cafe in the morning, decked out in workers uniforms or ill- fitting suits. Don/Robin, OFCs.


**Title:** Present  
**Series:** Three Generations  
**Universe:** Odysseys  
**Author:** **loozy**  
**Characters:** Don, Robin, OFCs; Don/Robin  
**Rating:** PG- 13/ K  
**Summary:** He is her crush, someone pretty to look at when compared to the other men who come into the cafe in the morning, decked out in workers uniforms or ill- fitting suits.  
**Word Count:** 300; 182; 243; 285; 296; 297; 293; 284;  
**Spoilers:** none  
**Notes:** Inspired by the challenge on numb3rs_het and beta'ed by the awesome **valeriev84**...  
**Prompt:** # 61 Object of Affection; # 83 Pie; # 132 Witness; # 129 Covert; # 38 Discovery; # Science & Art; # 42 Words; # 146 Temperature

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fic. Numb3rs and everybody associated with it belong to Cheryl Heuton & Nick Fallucci and CBS.  
**Feedback:** Yes, please. I love every kind of review, even the bad ones, as long as they are helpful and constructive.

**09 Neighbour**

_Object of Affection_

She is an old lady who lives next door to the FBI- agent who gives their apartment block some kind of security- flare that has upped the rent for newcomers since he moved in seven years ago.

She likes to spend her days on the balcony and watch people or listen to what is going on in the apartment to her right where the G- man lives. The walls are surprisingly thin in the block and in the summer he has a tendency to leave his windows and door to the balcony open so that she really cannot help it but to listen in.

Of course, she is always most inconspicuous, well by on the outside at least, having a beverage on the tiny table and a tabloid magazine in her hands as an alibi.

Surely someone like her would never listen in on what the handsome man is doing?

It is not as if he is home often, most of his time he spends at work or with that woman of his. She has come back to him for a second try it seems and has taken her place back from the other woman, a colleague if she understood it right, who was with Agent Eppes when she, Counsellor Brooks as he sometimes teases, was not with him.

She does not know what exactly happened between them, but she knows that Agent Eppes has not sounded that happy in a long time.

She likes that.

He is a very handsome man after all, so why should he be all alone?

If she had been younger, she would have offered herself to him.

As would the block's other female residents if the passing looks they often throw him, or the whispers she overhears in the laundry room, are any indication.

_Pie_

He is a very observant man, which should not come as a surprise given that he is a fed after all, but sometimes the little gestures of his still delight her.

Like after Thanksgiving, he often drops a piece of pie off at her door from his father's. Her daughter lives in China, stupid manager husband who had to whisk her away, so Thanksgiving she is often alone bar when Margory and Delilah come over and they have a feast like they used to back in the day when they were young still.

Sometimes she misses her youth.

He exchanges pleasantries with her this year and she cannot help but glance over at the door where the counsellor is waiting, leaning utterly relaxed against the door jamb, watching him with an affection that is very sweet to observe and she has to smile to herself.

Those two are utterly adorable, in a way.

And the pie, baked by his father according to an old family recipe, is absolutely delicious.

So, in a way is Agent Eppes, too, just on a side note.

_Witness_

He cannot sing, cannot hold a note to save his life but still he does sing from time to time which makes her cat hide in the bedroom, as far away as possible.

It makes her want to come over at times and offer to teach him how to actually use his vocal chords, but the counsellor, or Ms Brooks actually, does that more often than not for her, telling him to shut up between giggles and embarrassed moans. Agent Eppes takes great pleasure in continuing to torture her until she finds other ways to shut him up which then result in sounds that should make her flee after her cat, but sometimes, if she feels like it, she stays.

It has a bit of a perverse note to it, but even though she is not as young as she once was, she remembers quite well what it was like.

Besides, there are enough times when she listens in on conversations that are anything but happy. Ms Brooks does her best to lighten up his mood or to lift the weight he carries, and he does the same for her, they are good for each other in that way. If it gets too bad, though, she escapes to her bookshop even if it is her time off.

Then Ms Brooks stops coming around and the apartment falls strangely silent for a while.

It makes her miss the sounds of reckless hedonistic pleasures, though.

**20 Cafe**

_Covert_

She is a middle- aged woman who works as a barista in the cafe round the corner from the apartment block that used to be a small factory.

She likes to watch people, find out their patterns when they come more than once, and tries to have their orders ready in her head when she sees them coming through the door.

There is one man who comes in almost every morning to get his morning coffee, with an extra shot of espresso and then generously mixes milk and one packet of sweetener in after receiving his java in the take away- container. He is not really tall, with short dark hair and intense eyes that crinkle slightly in the corners when he smiles. Often he has a pair of sunglasses on but always takes them off when he approaches the counter, and one morning she sees the outline of a gun on his right hip beneath the suit jacket.

A police officer, probably.

Or detective, his clothes, often a suit with a crisp shirt and tie, scream someone who has command, while his body movement conveys natural authority.

He is smoking hot, too, and she often daydreams about his voice.

He is her crush, someone pretty to look at when compared to the other men who come into the cafe in the morning, decked out in workers uniforms or ill- fitting suits.

There is a Starbucks around the other corner of the block and she reckons that those who have a stick up their asses go there, but the man always comes to her cafe and for that she likes him even more.

She just hopes he does not notice her staring all the time.

_Discovery_

He is an FBI- agent.

One morning, she actually comes out and asks him what the gun at his hip means, and he shows her his badge, but since that day tries to hide the weapon unless he is just wearing his jeans, that are just tight enough for her to appreciate the view, and a shirt. He is hot, and so it is no wonder that he has a female companion from time to time, who is as composed as him.

They both work well together, and she can see that they get on very well together. There are quick stolen kisses and banter and she always has the feeling of observing very private moments when she sneaks looks at them while preparing their beverages.

The woman, brunette hair always in a loose bun or ponytail on weekdays and open on the weekend, is almost as tall as him, with the same confident air, though her smile is a more reserved than his, but no less friendly. She certainly has the same calculating look on her face when observing her environment.

There is something about the couple that she likes, even if she is jealous, and finds that she looks forward to every morning shift in the hopes of them coming over to grab a coffee.

The old lady, who comes every morning, and her talk about them and wonder what is going on. They both hold an affection for them and from having observed the agent for a long time, they know that the two fit, and they like it.

Until one day, the woman stops coming with him, and so does he, for a while.

They worry.

At some point he starts seeing another woman, he does not frequent the shop with her.

**20 Book**

_Science & Art_

She is a young woman, fresh out of college, who works in the bookshop down the street from the cafe right beside the Starbucks.

She knows almost everyone on the block as they frequent it a lot to get magazines, the papers, and occasionally even books.

But even better, the bookshop is the best source for gossip on the whole street thanks to Mrs Gebraldi, the old owner, who knows everything that is going on. Her and the other old hags always hang around the cashier station and chat away, and she cannot help but listen when she is close.

There is a lot to do in the shop, big as it is, and she loves the smell of fresh books, and even more the smell of the old books in the antique- section.

One day, a dashing man asks her for assistance in the science and art section. He explains that he is looking for something for his brother and girlfriend for Hanukkah. It is a surprisingly cold morning on a Saturday in early December and he is wearing a dark jacket over dark jeans, his short hair ruffled from sleep, with light stubble grazing his cheeks. His dark eyes bore inquisitively into hers, and she is stuck for words for a moment, has to mentally shake herself to gather her wits before she feels confident enough to answer him.

He is a regular customer, she is soon informed after asking her boss with flaming cheeks, only to have Evelyn from the cafe inform her that it is quite natural to have a crush on Agent Eppes.

All the women on the block do, after all.

Too bad he is already taken, but since that day she looks at Science & Art with a different eye.

_Words_

There is something about Agent Eppes that annoys her.

It is mainly his ability to take away her ability to form coherent sentences in her head, and his absolute lack of awareness in doing so. He probably knows he is charming in a self- deprecating way, knows the effect he has to a certain extent because he is always flirting outrageously with Mrs Gebraldi, Evelyn and her, but she doubts he knows he leaves her tongue- tied.

Really, at times she would prefer Mrs Gebraldi to return to handling customers because she does not know how much longer she can take this.

He reads a lot, though, as he tells her one day with a twinkle in his eyes that makes her knees go weak. He does not really have enough time to catch up on the books piling up.

She meekly suggests a vacation, at which he laughs, softly, though the twinkle is gone.

Pity.

Often, Ms Brooks accompanies him, and they spend a lot of time in the aisles, browsing through the books in the shop's various sections and often manage to come up with quite the variety of material.

She likes that Agent Eppes obviously enjoys the written word and that he has a diverse interest in it.

She also likes that her boss is handling the register because otherwise she would be afraid of messing up the bill all the time and stammering and blushing and just wanting to die.

How very embarrassing that would be, not to mention the mess.

Every evening she tries to sort words out in her head, so that she might actually be able to do something else but squeak when he comes in.

Alas, she still fails.

Every time.

How very embarrassing indeed.

_Temperature_

It is always quite comfortable in the shop. Mrs Gebraldi says that it keeps the customers in because when it is cold they like to be in the warmth and when it is hot, they like it cool.

So the temperature is always appropriately adjusted and often customers really like to stay and sit in the reading corner of the shop to browse more intensely over a volume they were considering. She likes to go over and chat to them about the book. It gives the shop a homely atmosphere that a lot of people appreciate, no matter the weather.

Yet she cannot help but notice that the temperature rises every time that Agent Eppes enters the shop.

It always gets quite hot and she often curses her choice of wardrobe until he leaves and the temperature cools down again.

It gets even hotter on Sundays in the summer when he comes in dressed in board shorts and tight t- shirts that make her produce a ridiculous amount of drool. On Sundays, nearly always accompanied by Ms Brooks, he is relaxed, with a rakish expression on his face and a constant twinkle in his eyes. Her crush always grows just that little bit more on Sundays in the summer not only because of his stance but also because of his arms.

Beautiful arms, really, strong and reassuring, bulging underneath the sleeves of his tee, and more drool is accumulating. The arms plus the body and the face...

Her older sister would say he is 'yummy' but she is above that, what with her degree in English.

She thinks he is just plain beautiful and thinks no other man has ever fitted that expression better.


End file.
